Refine we must


Driving down the New Jersey Turnpike for many decades drivers would smell the foul smell; and see the lights of the giant refineries, and wondered why on earth would someone name it the garden state. Then the refinery lights went down and slowly the production moved to the gulf states as it became more expensive to move oil stocks up to feed them in the North East. As the lights went out it seemed a portent sign of the decline of America and its petroleum industry and the oil majors sought profits and capacity outside the United States. Europe with its North Sea oil, the Middle East with its huge capacity of cheap oil and Asia with its burgeoning demand became the standard bearers for new refining capacity additions. A death knoll on American refineries; and the general demise of its petro chemical industry, was being called by talking heads on major TV channels. They saw only a continued downward spiral; as costs remained high, and capacity utilization suffered. Even today the North East continues to import a major part of its consumption from abroad.
Little known to them; there were still some ingenious folks around the gulf coast; who were ready to take the risks, to turn things around. Their efforts paid off around two years ago, as the major refiner’s added capacity at an unprecedented scale to fulfill growing American demand and also to add surplus capacity for exports. “All these companies are expanding their export terminals—Valero, Shell, Marathon Petroleum, all of them,” said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst at Oppenheimer. “Any companies with refining assets on the Gulf Coast are expanding their export terminals. …The profitability is not that clear, but the trend is very clear.” From being an importer just three years ago; today the US has become the largest exporter of refined petroleum products led by Diesel, airplane fuel and gasoline. The death of the US industrial capacity was prematurely announced it seems; and now it is well on its way from not only being the bread basket of the world, but also the refiner for the world. The petroleum hydrocracking industry is exploding it seems; and it is driven by cheap gas and shale oil, and at the current rate it will add substantially to the rate of GDP growth in the US. Trade deficits as a result will be driven down; and Europe with its higher cost of gas and petroleum products from the previous Russian republics, will continue to suffer.
President Carter had warned decades ago during the fuel crisis; that the US needs to become much more energy efficient, if it is to survive as a leader in economic development. It has taken decades for the conservation efforts to pay off and with President Obama’s declaration of still higher fuel standards for the auto industry; demand in the US will continue to fall over the next decades, as old cars are retired and replaced with far more fuel efficient vehicles. At the same time the US is finally looking seriously at renewals; and wind, solar, nuclear, ethanol, biomass and anything else that can be technically possible, is being explored and developed. Venture capital and investments in developing the fuel of the future continue, from the risk takers and entrepreneurs. The greening of America will have long term repercussions for the rest of the world; as more efficient cars, trucks, trains, planes, houses, appliances, buildings and cities develop. Warren Buffet is buying up solar plants; as if they were going out of style, and as I fly across the US I see more wind farms cropping up. After decades of decline new nuclear plants have been cleared for development and will come online to support the growing electricity needs of this vast land.
The national debt is an embarrassment to some; as we owe trillions to the Japanese and Chinese and anyone else, who wants the safe haven of US treasuries. In fact those folks are wise, as they are investing in the greatest economic engine known to man. What counts is that America continues to grow its economy, invests in new research and development and converts it into new technical products and industrial production continues to grow its GDP; all else is just rustling of paper representing doomsday scenarios. Talking heads will come and go; but it is the ingenuity of the people and the will to pursue the next big thing, that will make or break us. Today forward thinking people are placing risky bets on refinery expansions; and tomorrow the lights may go down on these ventures, leaving idle capacity and major losses. Yet I thank these enterprising folks; as at least they have a vision to be the best and largest in the world, and are leading us to a brighter and more efficient tomorrow.

This entry was posted in Economics, Technology by Rajiv Kapoor. Bookmark the permalink.

About Rajiv Kapoor

Rajiv Kapoor was born in New Delhi. He was educated by the Jesuits at St Xavier’s, and graduated with Honors, from The University of Delhi. Rajiv Kapoor did his MBA in International Business from Penn State and is now settled in the US. He has traveled across most states of India, when he was working on modernization of Rice Mills, and understands their diverse culture and history. This book is a historical fiction, dedicated to his city of birth. His extensive research dives deep into a critical moment, in India’s long history, for his latest Historical Thriller “The Peacock Throne Wars”..

5 thoughts on “Refine we must

  1. Aw, this was an extremely good post. Taking the time and
    actual effort to generate a very good article… but what
    can I say… I hesitate a whole lot and don’t seem to get nearly
    anything done.

  2. I have to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in penning this site.

    I really hope to check out the same high-grade content from you later on
    as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own, personal site now 😉

  3. I just want to tell you that I am newbie to blogging and site-building and actually loved you’re page. Most likely I’m going to bookmark your site . You really come with fantastic well written articles. Kudos for sharing your website.

  4. We stumbled over here from a different web address and thought I may as well check things out.
    I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to going over your web
    page yet again.

Leave a Reply to Angeles Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.